He and Her
by TisZiny
Summary: No-one, not even the Doctor could know about this, because there was no way she would let what happened to her, or anything remotely like it, happen to her baby. Sequel to "You and Him" so read that first. Oneshot. River/11.


_Well I wasn't going to write a sequel, but pretty much everyone who reviewed wanted more, and I had a little idea so I decided to give it a try. I don't know how well it turned out but yes. Here is the sequel to **You and Him**._

**He and Her**

A long long time ago, before River truly was River, before she stopped time and married or killed the Doctor, before she became a Doctor herself, she asked him for a key. The Doctor had laughed, "Oh Melody Pond," he mused, "You're a child of the TARDIS; you don't need a key,"

"Of course I do." She'd said promptly, "Being able to open her with a thought or snap of my fingers is all very well and good Doctor, but what if I need to lock her, I might need it."

The Doctor had grumbled under his breath something that sounded like, "Just like Rose and her bloody passport," but he'd reached into a pocket and pulled out a key on a chain, lowering it slowly into her cupped hand.

"Who's Rose?" she had asked with a smile as she looked at her new TARDIS key,

The Doctor swallowed, obviously surprised she'd heard him, "An old friend," he told her quickly, "From a long time ago."

River brushed it off, blissfully naïve and young, and instead she looked at the key, "This has a perception filter," she stated,

"What? Oh yes, so it does, very handy, perception filters, I'm sure you'll find a good use for it," And for the longest time he was wrong, she only ever used the key to prove she had it, its perception qualities forgotten.

But now, as she watched the TARDIS disappear, leaving her -for the first time since Berlin- unsure she would ever see that beautiful ship again, she knew she would have to use it. River pulled the key from the spine of her diary and placed it around her neck, because there was no way she would let what happened to her, or anything remotely like it, happen to her baby.

And so for months, River wore the key only escaping Storm Cage to procure as much information as she could on the anatomy and gestation of Time Lords, and pregnancy in Humans. At night she would read her books, writing in her diary about the development of her baby, and hoping against hope that the TARDIS was smart enough to stop the Doctor from choosing those times to visit.

No one, not even the Doctor, could know about this baby.

And what harm could the secret do? He had said himself he didn't want to bring a child into their lives full of mismatched timelines, spoilers and lies, and fair enough, she didn't want to raise a child in those terms either, and she didn't intend on it.

The TARDIS landed in her cell the moment River realised she was in labour, and she was taken to a small village in Herefordshire, England. The TARDIS seemed to have landed in a cottage, and the woman who lived there was greatly affronted by the sudden appearance of the blue box. "Oh no, Doctor, you simply can't be as rude as to-" the woman stopped when River opened the door, cradling her swollen stomach and wincing through a contraction,

"Oh my!" the woman rushed forward to help River, without a moment to lose she was taken to a bedroom, and the woman, a nurse, delivered her baby without question.

River held her sweet child, a boy, cradled against her chest, his pink little face blinking up at her, and she shed a tear for what she knew she must do, "I'm sorry, my love," she whispered to him,

"What shall you call him," Asked the woman as she sat with River and her new son,

River smiled sadly down at him, letting him grasp at a lock of her blonde hair, "I think," she paused, "I think, William."

"_You're his wife, aren't you?"_

_River turned with a false smile on her lips, "Who else would I be, Sweetie?"_

_John shrugged, "I did briefly consider the possibility of you being my mother."_

"_Your mother! I really hope you don't do the same things we've done with her," River laughed, "Bad enough the things you've done with __my__ mother."_

_John cleared his throat, pulling at his ear, "And what kind of things are they?" he asked,_

_River raised her eyebrows, "Oh Sweetie, I have heard many a tale of your tenth bodies apparent fondness for kissing his companions, so I do rather hope you know the kinds of things I'm talking about; especially with that photograph of you and a baby hanging up in your living room."_

_There was a pause in which they heard soft footsteps going up the stairs. River looked at a wall, toward the sound and bit her lip, her smile fading._

"_She still loves him, doesn't she?" she asked, "I thought- I thought seeing how she's moved on would help him… it seems I've only made matter worse,"_

_John shuffled his feet and scratched the back of his neck with a sigh, "She misses him. She misses the TARDIS and the adventure, here, well, we used to be part of Torchwood, and it was enough. Researching alien artefacts and occasionally stoping a hostile invasion, or saving a lost ship. It was almost like before, but once Jamie came along we had to stop." He paused, "But yes, she definitely misses him more than she used to."_

"_And she loves him,"_

"_She does." John nodded, "And He?"_

"_Pretends not to," River swallowed back tears, "He pretends he doesn't love her in that way, pretends he doesn't ache for her or miss her, and he pretends he's not jealous of you and this life he believes he could never lead."_

"_But he loves you too,"_

_River laughed through her tears, "I suppose he must,"_

River snapped out of her memory as William started to cry in the crib that was both hers and the Doctor's. Picking him up gently she soothed him quickly, singing softly and resting his head against her chest so he could heard her duel heartbeat. She had stayed in that cottage for less than an hour after he was born, choosing to return to the TARDIS where she set them into the vortex before lowering her son into her old crib and beginning her search.

It was not to be a pleasant task, but her mother TARDIS surely made it quick. The dear machine lead River to an obscure door that had not been set in that wall earlier, and she found herself in a storage room that surely belonged in the far depths of the ship. Sitting on a shelf directly across from her was a beautifully engraved fob watch.

_John frowned at her uncertainty, "Come on," he said, hand out stretched, "Let him tell you,"_

_It took River a moment to take John's hand, she wasn't sure if going upstairs was a good idea, but as she looked into his eyes, the eyes of the Doctor; she knew she could never say no. Up the stairs they walked hand in hand, coming to a stop outside the half open white door that obviously led to a nursery._

_"So you mean," They heard the Doctor murmur from inside, "you and the other me…?" _

_"Yeah,"_

_"The one adventure I could never have, eh?"_

_"Never?" Rose whispered, and she paused, the silence full of uncertainty and tension, "What about River?"_

_"River and I don't meet in the right order, I wouldn't want to bring a child into that, not ever."_

* * *

><p>"I'm top ten in my class, sir." Timothy stated to his teacher,<p>

"Now, be honest, Timothy; you should be the very top. You're a clever boy, but you seem to be hiding it, and I know why. Keeping your head low avoids the mockery of your classmates. But no man should hide himself, don't you think?"

A flash of a memory, a woman, the woman from his dreams, the dreams he had every night that had his dorm mates mock him. It vanished just as quickly and Timothy found his gaze on a fob watch sitting on the mantelpiece to his left,

"Yes sir." He spoke absently, his gaze unable to be broken from the watch.

He could hear his teacher searching for a specific book, talking, though Timothy took no notice of what the words meant, "You're clever, be proud of it. Use it."

A flash of that woman again, tears in her eyes, and a sad smile on her face, a most beautiful face framed by blonde curls, _"Time Lord,"_ the watch spoke, _"Timothy, hide yourself,"_ he stared at the watch, _"I'm trapped, kept inside the cogs..."_ he reached out, and as the fob watch opened in his hand, gold light, an energy that felt so familiar but so foreign spilled over him,

He snapped it shut and pocketed it quickly as his teacher returned, "Fascinating details about the siege," he was saying, "really quite remarkable- are you alright?"

"Yes Sir. Fine, Sir."

"Right then. Good. And remember- use that brain of yours!" Timothy took the book from his teacher hand but as their hands touched, he was hit with a view of his teacher as a completely different man, dressed in pinstripes and brandishing a blue tipped silver object,

_"Power of a Time Lord-"_ the voice the same as before, whispering to his mind, but then the vision snapped away and Timothy noticed his hand was once again untouched,

"You're really not looking yourself, old chap- anything bothering you, or...?"

"No Sir...Thank you, Sir." He left quickly, shutting the door to his teachers study behind him.

Timothy ran to his dormitory and sat on his bed, pulling the stolen watch from his pocket, it was whispering unintelligible words, and he clicked it open, the gold light spilling from it once more, _"You are not alone..."_ The same strange man burnt orange in fire and transformed into someone much younger, _"Keep me hidden..."_ the woman smiling down at him, her blonde hair and soft eyes filling him with such warmth, a strange bronze creature followed by a tin man, a thing with tentacles hanging from its mouth, a howling wolf that he knew to be affected by the full moon behind it. They flashed in front of him, creature after creature all so strange and horrifying and alien. _"I'm sorry, my love,"_ and the woman was crying again, her old eyes full of such sadness, reaching out to him, _"__William__."_ He snapped the fob watch shut.

He stared at its closed face, engraved so beautifully, and knew. The darkness was coming and Timothy must keep this away from the force and empty man to protect his teacher, and that strange man this watch showed him to be; the last of the Time Lords, the last of a wise and ancient race, not as alone as he thought.

The Doctor. Like fire and ice and rage; the night and the storm in the heart of the sun. Ancient and forever he burns at the centre of time and he can see the turn of the universe. He is Timothy William Latimer's father, and he is wonderful.

**END**

_I hoped you liked, personally I'm not so sure about it, but I hope you all enjoyed it. Let me know :)_


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